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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28757712">cruel world</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/lonelyheartsclub_com/pseuds/lonelyheartsclub_com'>lonelyheartsclub_com</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Murder Most Unladylike Series - Robin Stevens</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, it's just. Not today, someday i will let alfred be happy okay that day is coming</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 04:34:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>660</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28757712</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/lonelyheartsclub_com/pseuds/lonelyheartsclub_com</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>alfred cheng doesn't want romance, and he never has. but why does hazel want to know, in the dead of night?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hazel Wong &amp; Alfred Cheng</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>cruel world</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>When Hazel crept into Alfred’s rooms the night before she was set to leave, Alfred wasn’t even surprised. Simply a bit annoyed, since she tended to have a knack for waking him up in the middle of the night, specifically 2AM. She grinned mischievously, and sat down in a chair, looking up at Alfred with innocent eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you have a girlfriend? Or a boyfriend, not to assume.” Alfred’s heart stopped. There was a part of him that he felt was broken. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wong Fung Ying…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you not like anyone?” she looked up at him as if it was strange. He swallowed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alfred was...different. He didn’t see an appeal to romance. But, he did enjoy sex. So that left the question of: what was wrong with him?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No. I don’t.” he said, a bit bluntly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh. Well, you’ve liked people before, haven’t you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alfred froze. Never in his life had he ever fancied someone. Not in that romantic way, at least. He’d fancied people in the physical sense, but never in the way where he wanted to be with them in a relationship, the way Hazel wanted to be with Alexander Arcady, or the way Bertie and Harold were together, or Amanda and Henry. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wong Fung Ying, there’s something wrong with me. I don’t want to be with people in a relationship, but I do like to…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...Ah. Alfred, I highly doubt there’s anything wrong with you.” He looked over at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have to disagree.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She frowned. “Alfred, I don’t quite know how to put it, but there truly isn’t anything wrong with you. You are 100% normal.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I’m not. I should want to be in love with someone, yet I cannot bring myself to. I should want to marry someone, to spend the rest of my life with them, but I don’t want to. I do not want love, or romance.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But you want the physical side to all of that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alfred went red and said nothing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She rolled her eyes. “Answer the question, please.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes. I believe I’m broken.” He looked down at the floor, and it was Hazel’s turn to comfort him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think you’re perfectly normal. You know what I think it is, Alfred?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What, Hazel? How could you possibly manage to come up with the answer to the question that's been plaguing me since I was your age?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aromanticism. You don’t want love, but you want sex, so that must be it,” she said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hazel, don’t say that word.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She frowned. “Grow up, Alfred.” he smiled, and she stuck her tongue out at him. He sighed for a moment, before turning to face Hazel.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you, Wong Fung Ying.” he muttered, breaking the deafening silence that was starting to ring in his ears. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re welcome, Alfred. I’ll see you tomorrow.” she looked at her watch. “Well, actually, later today.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Behave.” Alfred mockingly chided. He pulled her closer and ruffled her pin straight hair with an arm around her neck, and she protested in very rude words in Cantonese and by trying to pull his arm off of her. Sometimes, when they were children, Alfred would rest his hands on her head, because until she turned about 9, she was about 4’9. She then proceeded to shoot up 4 inches and it seems that she stayed at that height. Alfred had always been a lot taller than her, but now he had about a foot and 3 inches over her 5’1. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She stuck her tongue out at him. “Love you, Alfred. Platonically, of course.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, after what I just told you, I think that was implied.” he joked. She scrunched her face up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’d better get going. Night, Alfred.” She crept out of his room, and she was back on up to St. Lucy’s before Alfred could say thank you properly, and as she shut the door, his head started spinning so much, to the point where all he could do was cry. </span>
</p>
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